The Adolescent-Parent Career Congruence Scale: Development and Initial Validation

Although there is a growing interest in the discrepancy between parents and their adolescent children in relation to career expectations, there is no existing, psychometrically sound scale that directly measures adolescent-parent career congruence or incongruence. This study reports the development and initial validation of the Adolescent-Parent Career Congruence Scale. Phase 1 utilized a review of literature, focus groups, and expert feedback to formulate 20 items. In Phase 2, with a sample of 550 students, item and exploratory factor analyses were employed to reduce the number of items to 12, which represented two reliable subscales. In Phase 3, with a second sample of 512 students, confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to test the initial structure. In Phase 4, the construct validity was examined by correlating the total and subscale scores with measures of parental support, living-up-to parental expectations, and life satisfaction. The implications for use in research and practice are discussed.